Quote:
Originally Posted by 33girl
If a system with 100 or fewer PNMs has a quota of 30, that means there are only 3 sororities. Many women would not like that situation. It also often means (Tom Earp brought this up re his campus and he wasn't wrong) that the groups who are there have been there forEVer and a new group has an exceptionally hard time coming on campus.
Honestly, I don't see this as a "travesty." That's a bit hyperbolic. Every chapter/organization has the right to choose members as they see fit. If a group on a Q/T system chooses to take under quota or under total, as long as their HQ oks it, that IS their prerogative. I mean if KKG at LSU wants to take 10 women in the next rush, that's up to them. If IU was such a ginormous problem and a threat to Greek life as we know it, all the national groups who are there would have gotten together a while ago and put out the word to their IU chapters that they MUST change to Q/T and their Panhel rep MUST vote that way.
I'm just boiling it down to this, and maybe I'm putting it on too personal a level, but whatever: I don't want my sorority going to a campus that doesn't really want it there, whether it's this situation, whether it's locals being forced against their will to go national or die out, whether it's a wrongminded Greek advisor pushing it through. Mine is one of the groups that's not there, so we could be impacted by this and I don't want the impact to be a negative one because it could harm us across the board. It's well and good to say "yay, expansion, change it up!" when it's really not going to affect you. It's kind of like the people who were giant AI cheerleaders when their orgs did AI as often as Halley's Comet comes by.
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Yes, a quota of 30 would translate into a campus with 3 chapters, in other words, a SMALL Greek campus. Thus, a campus with
19 chapters should not have that as quota at approximately 1/4 of the houses. It is seriously hurting the system when a large number of women are being turned away from membership. The whole point of setting quota under the q/t system is to maximize the number of women a chapter may pledge.
If it is true that the number of members a chapter may take is purely based on its own prerogative, then why are these chapters part of NPC organizations that promote the use of q/t? I don't know of a single NPC leader who would be ok with purposely bidding under quota or total. I can only speak for my own GLO's policies, where, even if a chapter is 1 under quota or total, they must recruit informally or snap bid to get to those numbers set by the CPH.
Many national level leaders of NPC groups do not agree with the IU system and they have reached out to their chapters there repeatedly. IU has a very strong alum network coming out of those sorority chapters, and nationals could risk alienating that strong base of "this is how we've always done it" folks, so it's not as simple as just mandating a q/t adoption. NPC has stepped in with a slew of recommendations, and one was for a change in the recruitment party structure. That has taken place. I would not be surprised if more changes will eventually occur there. They are taking baby steps.
When NPC's belief statement reads: "The young woman who wants fraternity experience will find it possible to belong on most campuses today" and the chapters at IU are not all working towards that as a goal, I do think there is a serious concern that cannot be dismissed as "their prerogative." As I am sure many GCers would agree, we personally cherish our sorority experiences and would not trade them for anything. I feel it is a unique, special time in one's college life, and while we in NPC do not promise membership, we do promote the chance for every woman who wants it to have the fairest structure in which to do so. I do not feel I am being the least bit hyperbolic in saying that the IU system's denial of membership to many hundreds of women, based on the structure and not the individual qualities of these women, is a travesty. Most women do not get a second chance if they can't get a bid as a freshman. It's not impossible as a sophomore, but undoubtedly the odds are stacked against an upperclassman.
I personally would not favor expansion at a school that has not done all it can within its existing system to increase membership opportunities.